Dr. appointment update

Kory and I saw the doctor today. It was our first visit without coming home with ultrasound pictures. I know this probably sounds sad, but I wasn't really disappointed. We didn't need an ultrasound because we could actually hear our baby's heartbeat on the Doppler. This might seem petty to most, but this is a milestone I've been looking forward to for a while. As much as I would have loved to have seen my son or daughter again today, it was really great just hearing his/her heart beating away.

There was a lot of what I thought was interference while trying to listen. The doctor said this was the baby moving. Apparently the Doppler picks up every kind of movement so when the baby moves, it makes noises too. Once I knew what it was, it was pretty cool to listen to also.

We did our quad-screening today. This is bloodwork that screens for Down Syndrome, Trisomy-18, Spina Bifida, and Cystic Fibrosis. Basically the screening will give us our statistical risk of having a baby with one of these conditions. It's not a guarantee, and honestly can have a lot of false positives, but we saw it as a way to prepare just in case. Hopefully we'll get the results back and our risk won't even be worth considering. If it is worth considering at least we'll have the extra time to adjust and learn more.

I wasn't worried about doing the screening as I've been poked for blood draws MANY times before. I quickly learned they needed more blood than I knew. All I can say is thank goodness it was me and not Kory (I think we all remember what happened at his last blood draw). They had to take 7 tubes of bloodwork! This was way more than I've ever done before, but I made it. I also had to do a urine sample, which believe it or not was harder than the blood draw. I had already peed at my appointment so I didn't really have to go when they asked. Instead we had to drive around for an hour or so while I drank water and lemonade until I had to go again. I didn't really expect that to be part of my day!

Our next appointment is March 9 and we'll get to schedule our "big" ultrasound then. It's only a matter of weeks until we find out if Baby Keebs is a boy or girl... get your bets in now!